Today was a sad day. I parted company with my Macintosh G4 for about half what I paid for it originally. I got rid of it because (a) the company I work for has a virtual private network which isn’t supported on the Mac and (b) I was mildly put off with the poor performance of Mac OS X (10.0). So, back in May, I spent some funds and built a AMD Duron-based PC that would suit my needs for under $500. I’m just now getting around to selling the Mac (ok, so I am a bit slow).

While my PC is fast enough, and does pretty much all I ever wanted in a computer, it is boring and generic compared to the sleek graphite-tinted G4. That’s one thing that Steve Jobs and Apple have always understood: how to make a soulless computer feel like it has a pulse, echoing the fact that it was designed by someone who appreciated beauty. Sure, they’re overpriced. Yes, the software selection is rather anemic. But how many word processors do you need, anyways?

Even though I have ended my short stint — just two years — in Mac Land, I will continue to watch Apple’s progress with hope in my heart. Even though it’s the underdog, I’m pulling for the future of their platform: Mac OS X. Right now, Mac OS X is little more than just UNIX with a really tasty candy coating. However, some reviews of OS X 10.1 say that performance and device support — my biggest complaints in 10.0 — have been much improved upon since the original release. I hope so, because OS X makes Windows XP look like child’s play. However, XP has all the apps, and is installed on computers which cost much less. Thus, those on a budget (like myself) will choose clunky grey or beige boxes that run a completely generic operating system such as Windows just to be able to have a computer that merely works.

So, Godspeed, young Mac! May you reach your destination (an apartment in Atlanta, GA) safely.

One more thing. PayPal has recently started charging its customers a fee for receiving transactions via a credit or debit card. The fee is 2.9% (+ $0.30) of the transaction. Customers are allowed $100 a month of credit-card transactions for free. I’m guessing that their business model — using short-term gains on money left in their accounts — was not paying the bills in this bear market.